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| Credit: Peanuts |
I was fairly new to being a basketball fan. It was just one and a half years when I first started watching Philippine hoops but I had quickly developed a passion for the sport as I rooted for the Purefoods team in PBA. It was also a good time to be a Filipino sports fan as the country was fresh from Onyok Velasco’s
I followed the games and reality started to sink in that the Philippine team wasn’t that great as compared to the other countries. We lost our gold dreams when China defeated us. I was still hopeful for the bronze when we faced Japan on that Sunday afternoon. The team was quite putting an effort from it with flashes of brilliance from Johnny A (a player I used to root against) from time to time. Alas, the Philippine national team lost in a dramatic ending. I was devastated as I could not believe that we could not even grab the third place in that tourney.
Years passed by and the frustrations and disappointments started to pile up. It came to a point when I would just expect the Philippines to either bow out somewhere near the third place of an Asian games affair.
October 2002:
It would be almost a decade of me following Philippine basketball and by this time, I was already used to seeing the Philippines not make the Finals. It was always China and South Korea battling it out during that span of time. Despite those tempered expectations, I would never forget this game.
Team Philippines was giving it a good fight. They were leading in some stretches of that game. My hopes went higher when I saw the team leading in the final two minutes. We were going to beat Korea! After all these years, how about that? Who knew? Then, the two missed freethrows from Olsen Racela happened. Korea eventually hit a buzzer beater three to win the game. I may have forgotten a lot of details on how the game played out (or even the year it was played – I had to Google this one out), but I could easily recall the pain of losing like it was just a couple of years ago. That was how it was devastating. It was the quintessential stomach punch game as people still remember it as the Olsen Racela’s missed freethrows game up to the present time.
Years passed by and Philippines started to gain a good funding and a better basketball program as Smart Gilas was formed. Watching Coach Norman Black’s Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP made me appreciate how important team chemistry would be in a basketball program. Unfortunately, we still could not catch a break in Asian basketball.
August 2013:
It is almost two decades from the Asian Games setback. More than a decade from the missed freethrow game. There were several years of heartbreak and pessimism. However, we got the homecourt advantage this year. With the country’s flourishing economy, yes it finally happened – FIBA Asia is in Manila.
Gilas Pilipinas played very good in the tournament. We got our lone defeat from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) last weekend, but other than which, we were fortunate that things fell our way in the last few days. Taiwan was defeated by Qatar – the team we beat with a good margin. Instead of facing China in the quarterfinals, Philippines was slated to battle Kazakhstan, which was defeated convincingly last Friday. This led us to battle our old tormentors – the Korean National Basketball Team.
Media started to hype this game up with huge reason. The Koreans have been defeating the Filipinos for the very longest time. The latest was 2011 when the Philippine team lost in another dramatic fashion. It was a pseudo pre-2004 Boston Red Sox experience where it was a one-sided affair and it was usually a stomach punch game every time.
Footages of the recent games (heartbreaks) against Korea were shown in television yesterday. Ghosts of yesterday were looming in the corner. On the other hand, there was that bright hope that we could cling to – our national team is playing at home. We have the enormous crowd support. And besides, we have this opportunity. Never say die as long as you have that chance.
How to Exorcise the Ghosts of the Past:
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| Jimmy Alapag's dagger three | Credit: GMA News |
Step 2: Have some confidence. No matter how many times the beatdown history of Korea was flashed in the screens, the Filipino sports analysts, the fans and the players showed remarkable confidence that ‘this was our time.’ Yeng Guiao mentioned in the pre-game analysis that if this becomes a close fight, we will win it this time because we have our fans cheering for us. Yup, he said that even if our previous defeats against Korea were all from close games. He could have easily tapped into the damaged goods angle but he did not. I know that he is supposed to say such because he is in Philippine television, but if you read through various Twitter feeds, overall comments from the people of this country, you would know that there was a general feeling that our basketball team could pull this off. When Jimmy Alapag hit that clutch three, he had all the guts for that despite knowing that we usually break down in the final moments against Korea.
Step 3: Fear will knock on your door. You are human and our bound to have some, but you continue to keep fighting. When the Koreans started to match our early scoring last night, you could hear the MOA Arena crowd start to get silent (at least from a television perspective). When Marcus Douthit, started limping and agonizing in pain, you could feel the collective fear. It was the “Oh no! Here we go again” experience. Something that Red Sox fans experienced in 2004 when the Yankees mounted a 3-0 series lead in the conference finals. However, you have a shot, right? You still give it a fight. That was why Gilas Pilipinas was still able to cut the Koreans’ lead in the second quarter.
Step 4: Along with fear, there will be moments of doubt. The ghosts start to knock. They are hinting that you will fail again. Flashes of the past start to show up again. From there, you will remember that the reason you are trying to exorcise the ghosts was because of those unfortunate events. You learn from mistakes and instead of getting intimidated, you use those for motivation. When everyone was mocking LeBron after Miami’s Game 5 Eastern Conference Finals loss to Boston last year, he was in familiar territory – the hungry Boston fans were breathing down his neck in Game 6. What happened? He rose up to the occasion and silenced the critics. When the Korea team – composed and mentally tough they are – started knocking down the threes to get the late fourth quarter lead, it got a bit scary. We were in familiar territory again. However, Gilas Pilipinas suck it up and continued to fight which leads us to…
Step 5: Utak. Much has been said about the heart aspect of the game. But in order to succeed, you also have to play smart and controlled basketball. Norman Black’s Ateneo champion teams were not just highly skilled teams. They consistently played intelligent basketball. Gilas Pilipinas had the control and discipline especially in the final stretches. They made the extra pass instead of letting their emotions high by taking the heroic shot.
Step 6: Get lucky. Admit it, you sometimes need a bit of luck. Bilog ang bola.
Step 7: It helps a lot when you have someone believing in you. It gave me chills when I heard the huge crowd pop whenever Gilas players score or make a defensive stop. They are humans after all. They needed all the extra push.
Step 8: Puso. Of course, if there was one word to sum up the victory against Korea, it has got to be this year’s battlecry. Gilas could have easily folded when Douthit re-injured himself. They could have choked the game away when Korea grabbed that late lead. They could have wilted with the height disadvantage. But they didn’t. They fought and made the extra effort. That made all the difference between winning and losing that game.
That was it. We made it. We are Spain-bound. I am ecstatic on how this country has achieved lately. Yes, it is more fun in the Philippines.
Ako po si Jeffrey John del Prado. Tubo ng Mandaluyong City. Buong pusong sumusuporta para sa Gilas Pilipinas at ikinagagalak ang pagiging Pilipino. Naniniwala akong kaya nating magwagi.
P.S. Kita-kits sa Spain next year.
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